


with every broken bone, i swear i lived

by vicbartons



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 07:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11100288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicbartons/pseuds/vicbartons
Summary: seeing robert get hurt always makes aaron worry. sometimes it even makes him panic to the point where he can´t think straight anymore and ends up getting hurt himself in the process.





	with every broken bone, i swear i lived

**Author's Note:**

> title from "i lived" by one republic

Robert didn´t really know how they had ended up here. 

Well, technically, he did know how, but his head was still feeling a bit woozy and it had all happened so fast. Mostly though, the situation they´d found themselves in just seemed too ridiculous to actually be true.

He was just glad he´d managed to get both of them into hospital somehow. 

His head-wound had been a quick fix. The doctor had managed to close the cut on his scalp with three quick stitches that he´d be able to get removed within two weeks time. Robert being Robert, he was far more bothered by the small newly shaved bald spot on the back of his head than by the injury itself. He could already hear Aaron mock him mercilessly for his vanity over the next few weeks, while he would try to cover up the hole with his too short hair or the odd beanie. The worst offender when it came to his bruised ego though, was the less than attractive bandage, which the nurse had carefully wrapped around his head to protect the wound from the elements as well as his itching fingers. It made him look like a tennis player wearing one of those terrible thick white headbands that should have done the world a favour and stayed in the 80s. 

Aaron´s injury had been a bit of a different story. The fact that he was currently hooked up to a number of beeping machines, looking younger than his years while lying in a hospital bed in front of Robert with his left leg hoisted up in a sling was proof of that.   

  

* * *

 

“You sure you don´t want me to help you with that, old man?” With Adam out on a scrap run for a few days, Robert had taken it upon himself to help Aaron out at the yard. 

It was early in the evening and Robert hoped that him helping out with the more hands-on work would give them the chance to get home a bit earlier so they could make the most of their empty house, seeing as Liv was out on a school trip for the next few days. 

“Hilarious,” Robert huffed, “I can manage just fine on my own, ta.”

While manual labour had never been Robert´s favourite pastime - excel sheets, fancy meeting rooms, and smarmy sales talk were more his forte - he was still the son of a farmer and a trained mechanic and this sure wasn´t the first car he´d scrapped for parts. 

“Fine,” Aaron threw his hands in the air, giving his husband his best smug smile as he walked backwards towards the portacabin, “if ya think so. But don´t come crying to me when you realise that this is a bit harder than the pencil pushing you´re used to.” With that, Aaron disappeared into the office, leaving Robert to the car. 

Aaron worked silently on his paperwork for a good while, the portacabin only filled with the sound of a Top40 radio station that he didn´t much care for, until his workflow was interrupted by a loud thump followed by a tirade of curse words.  

 

* * *

 

Robert didn´t even know how it had happened. One minute his arms were deep in the engine bay as he tried to pull out a particularly stubborn piece and the next his elbow graced the prob rod and the bonnet was crashing on his head, its edge pressing sharply against his scalp.

“Robert?” Aaron´s head popped around the corner of the door frame.

 “Sorry," Robert only waved him off, "don´t worry. Just hit my head a bit.”

Still feeling the need to check up on him, Aaron made his way across the yard towards his husband with a wisecracking smile plastered on his face. “Told ya, you should let a professional handle that.”

Robert rolled his eyes, his hands rubbing over his temples and the back of his head to shake the throbbing pain the impact of the bonnet had left him with.

“Christ, Robert,” Aaron gave a sharp intake of breath once he got a look at Robert´s hand.

“Oh,” as he pulled it back out of his hair and let it drop to his side, Robert noticed that his fingers were damp and red from blood, the bonnet having had more of an impact than the older man had initially given it credit for. “Must have hit it a bit harder than I thought, huh?” Robert gave Aaron a crooked smile, but his husband´s eyes were wide in panic.

“Can´t be more than a small cut though, not that big a deal,” he assessed, trying to console Aaron eventhough he wasn´t the one who had gotten hurt.

"You wouldn´t be saying that, if you could see how badly you´re bleeding right now.”

Aaron grabbed Robert by his shoulders, slowly guiding him towards the ground so he could sit with his back against the car. He held onto his head, making sure it didn´t bump against the car´s grill as he slumped down. Robert couldn´t help himself but huff a small, loving laugh at the sight of his husband. The look on Aaron´s face was one full of worry and concern, the type of kind and caring look Robert thought he´d never get used to, no matter how long they´d been married. Robert´s hand found the back of Aaron´s neck and he pulled him in close for a second, letting their foreheads touch.

“Calm down,” Robert tried to soothe him. He thought it was working when he could feel Aaron take a deep breath against him. “It´s a head-wound. It´s bound to bleed like crazy, but I´m alright.”  He cupped his husband´s cheek in one hand, giving him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Just get us to A&E and they´ll have me stitched up in no time.”

“Right, course,” Aaron shook his head, trying to snap out of the panic he´d suddenly found himself in. “God, I should get you something to press against that, shouldn´t I?”

“I can get something myself, just stop freaking out Aaron,” Robert hoisted himself up a bit against the grill of the car, a hand pressed against his wound.

“No. What? I´m not,” the younger man got up from where he´d been kneeling in the gravel, “No. You keep still. I´ve got it.”

“Just breathe, Aaron. It´s really not that big a deal, alright?” The dismay in his husband´s eyes was still painfully obvious to him.

As predicted, Aaron didn´t seem convinced. “That´s so much blood though.”

“I´m gonna be just fine, ok?”

“Right...yeah...course you are.” With that, Aaron made a run for the office, coming back with a towel only a few moments later.

Robert raised an eyebrow at the sight of it.

“Not to be a terrible patient, but maybe something not soaked in grease and oil would be nice. Don´t really fancy getting an infection on top of it.” He hated himself for even saying it the moment the words had left his mouth and he could see the startled look they had left on his husband´s face. 

He opened his mouth to say something, to apologise for snapping, but Aaron was already running back towards the cabin, muttering to himself under his breath. It only took him a second to be back in the door with a clean cloth in his hands. Aaron stumbled out of the portacabin again and that´s when it happened: When his foot slipped and got stuck in the free space between two of the metal steps and his leg fell through, leaving Aaron to fall head first into the gravel, his leg still stuck behind him.

“Aaron!” Robert was on his feet in no time, scrambling over to his husband. He ignored his lightheadedness and the steady beating he could feel at the back of his head as best he could as he jogged across the yard. 

“For god´s sake, Aaron. You alright?” Robert asked, kneeling down on the ground beside him. It was a stupid question, considering the state of Aaron´s leg and the moans of agony coming out of his husband´s mouth. 

Aaron didn´t give him an answer, just tried to shuffle backwards in hopes of getting his clearly broken leg out from beneath the steps.

“No, don´t. You´re only gonna make it worse,” Robert chastised, his voice steeped with worry.

“Don´t think that´s possible,” Aaron let out between gritted teeth. Robert carefully pulled his husband towards him, letting Aaron´s head rest on his thighs. He stroked his finger´s through his hair and in return, Aaron tried his best to press the clean cloth he still held in his hand against the back of Robert´s head to stop the bleeding there.  

Robert made a conscious effort not to look at Aaron's leg, focusing on his face instead, as he pulled his cellphone out of the pocket of his jeans to ring 999. He tried his hardest not to see how half of his husband´s shin was sticking out at almost a 90 degree angle, in order to make sure his lunch would stay down.

Because that was the last thing they needed right now. 

 

* * *

 

“Not the way most couples like to spend their date night,” the paramedic half-heartedly joked as she felt Aaron´s pulse, trying her hardest to snap Robert out of his terrified haze while her colleague inspected the cut on his head. He knew she meant well, but he really wasn´t in the mood, didn´t even look up at her. In fact, he spent the whole ride to the hospital clasping Aaron´s free hand, his eyes not leaving his husband for even a second.  

 

* * *

 

People didn´t typically die from a broken leg. Robert knew that. Of course he knew that, but that didn´t stop him from worrying. 

Not worrying would have been easier, if he hadn´t seen his husbands leg stick out at a less than natural angle. Hadn´t seen his foot suddenly facing in the wrong direction as he lay on the gravel in front of the portacabin, his face contorted in pain with tears running down his cheeks.

It would have been easier, if Aaron had stayed conscious during their ride in the ambulance and Robert would have been able to give him some reassurance. Would have been able to give himself some, just by being able to look in Aaron´s eyes and having his husband hold onto his hand as tightly as he had been holding onto his. 

Most of all, it would have been easier, if sitting in the hospital waiting room - hunched over in an uncomfortable plastic chair that was too small for him and his long limbs - didn´t remind him of sitting in the same sterile room a few years prior.

If it didn´t remind him of the way Aaron´s grip on his hand had loosened as he´d flat-lined right in front of him. 

Robert vehemently shook his head, unwilling to give in to his negative thoughts. 

Aaron would be just fine. He had to be.  

 

* * *

 

To the chagrin of most other worried family members cramped into the small space, Robert spent most of the next few hours pacing back and forth over the linoleum floor. Every now and again he would take a seat in one of the empty chairs, an action that always drew a thankful sigh from a few of his by-sitters, but even then he wasn´t able to just sit still. His hands constantly moving, nervously running over his face and through his hair. His foot tapping a fast but steady rhythm.

Every time the door to the visitor´s room opened and he could see a pair of white trainers typical for the hospital staff out of the corner of his eye, his head would snap up in the hopes of finally getting some news.  They didn´t come.

 

* * *

 

Hours passed that felt like days, until Robert finally heard the words he´d been waiting for.

“Aaron Dingle´s family?”

Robert got out of the chair quickly and crossed the room in a few long strides, almost stumbling into the doctor as he was hit by a wave of dizziness. Too consumed by concern for Aaron, he´d almost forgotten that he had cracked his head open just a few short hours ago.

“Sorry,” he apologised, steadying himself. “That´s me. I´m his husband.”

The doctor only gave him a kind smile. He was clearly sympathising with Robert, who obviously wasn´t having the best day, if the fresh bandage around his head and the spouse in theater were anything to go by.

“The surgery went very well. Your husband suffered a displaced fracture to the tibia, but we were able to set it nicely with the help of a metal plate and a number of screws.”

“So he´s okay?” Robert asked, feeling as if someone had finally lifted a pressing weight off his shoulders.

“He´s going to need a cast for a while and it will take him a few months to walk properly again, but apart from that, he´ll be just fine,” the doctor reassured him, but he had been in his profession long enough to know that no family member every truly trusted his assessment until they´d gotten a look at their loved one themselves. “He should come around from the anaesthesia within the next thirty minutes or so and I bet he would like to see you, Mr. Dingle.”

Robert didn´t feel the need to correct him. 

Instead, he just silently followed the doctor to the care unit as he felt the knot that had been sitting in the pit of his stomach for the past few hours slowly unravel with every step that brought him closer to Aaron. 

  

* * *

 

It had taken Aaron almost an hour to come around, but Robert had been more then happy to just sit next to him, letting his thumb draw circles over the palm of Aaron´s hand while listening to the reassuring steady beep of the ECG.

“We´re a right pair of idiots, aren´t we?” Aaron mumbled with a small smile, when he´d finally opened his eyes and gotten used to his surroundings.

“Speak for yourself,” Robert muttered, but there was no bite to his words, only genuine concern for the man in front of him, “I only hit my head. You´re the one who had to go all out and break your bones. You don´t always have to one-up me when it comes to this stuff, ya know?” 

“Trust me, that wasn´t planned,” Aaron slurred, the anaesthetic still clearly affecting him. Robert´s eyes went soft at that and he let his hand run through Aaron´s curls and then further down his face to let his thumb caress his husband´s cheek.

“Idiot,” Robert grumbled as he shook his head, but it sounded an awful lot like ´I love you´, the way it usually did between the two of them. “Scoot over, will ya.” 

“You what?” Aaron´s eyebrows furrowed slightly at the request. “Mate, I´ve just had a major surgery and I'm hooked up to a bunch of cables.” 

  
“Not your mate,” Robert quipped, giving his better half a small grin, but then he grew serious again.  “You gave me a right scare for a minute there...promised you´d never do that to me again after last time... So scoot.” At least when it came to Aaron, Robert had gotten far better at admitting when he needed comforting over the years and Aaron knew Robert well enough to realise how big of a deal small requests like this were to him. He wasn´t about to deny him that, didn´t want to anyway.

“Come here then,”  Aaron pulled up the blanket and shuffled to the side as best he could with one leg stuck in a sling, because broken bones aside, he too was craving the warmth and comfort his husband´s touch always brought him. That feeling of home and safety it gave him, like everything was going to be alright as long as they were together.

Robert climbed on the narrow hospital bed and lay down on his side, careful not to take up too much space.

“You had me worried there, ya know?” Robert whispered, as he lay his head on Aaron´s shoulder and his hand found its way around his husband´s waist. “Not worth it,” he mumbled under his breath, the words barely audible with Robert´s nose buried in the crook of Aaron´s neck.

“What´s that?” Aaron asked, convinced that he must have misheard.

Robert turned his head slightly at that. “I´m not worth you getting hurt,” he repeated with more certainty.

Aaron pulled a few inches away from his husband, so he could put his hand under his chin and lift it up to make sure Robert would look him in the eye. “Well, that´s nonsense,” his voice was certain, letting Robert know that he wasn´t going to be questioned on this, “and a bit tough coming from the muppet who wasn´t willing to get out of a sinking car for my sake. Pot, kettle.” He pressed a soft kiss to Robert´s nose then, before dropping his hand back down.

Robert couldn´t really argue with that, didn´t want to either. Not when he could snuggle into the space between Aaron´s neck and his shoulder instead and let himself be calmed by the steady thumping of Aaron´s heart under his hand.

“Just be a bit more careful next time. Promise?” Robert begged, his voice low.

“Promise,” Aaron reassured him as he planted a kiss on the top of his head, taking a deep breath. There weren´t many things in life that were as comforting to Aaron as the smell of Robert and the ridiculously posh shower gel he insisted on using. “Same goes for you though. Need ya in one piece.”

Aaron could feel the smile on Robert´s face rather than see it. “Mhm,” Robert nodded lightly, slowly but surely falling asleep against Aaron´s chest now that worry and panic were finally wearing off. “Gotta stick around to annoy you ´til I´m at least 80 or summat, right?” 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr: [@vicbartons](http://www.vicbartons.tumblr.com)


End file.
